You should be able find black poly at Home Depot or some such store Edie. I hear you about the running our of steam part. We have been conciously moving our plantings towards low maintenance as we get older. We work full time and probably will for another 10 years and I want to enjoy my garden without feeling a slave to it. Of course there is always something to do but why torture myself with hours and hours of caring for fussy plants?

LynAB, Zone 3A----------------------------------“Those who say it can't be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.” ` James Arthur Baldwin"

I won't be able to cover it up and wait a year because I want to have a yard for the kids to play in this season. I'm going to mark off where the deck will be and pick a large area (about 35 x 35 feet) to re-sod. I will start off by mowing low and using a metal leaf rake like countryboy suggested. The builder that built the house laid down the sod in November and the first frost hit a few weeks after. The builder also didn't bother to putdown topsoil. According to my neighbour, he just laid the sod right on top of clay like soil. So there are little and big stones everywhere from the construction.

Edie, as for the weeds that might grow through, as Lyn mentioned, if you pull them as soon as they pop up you will only have a few to deal with at at time and it won't feel as labourious.

If anyone has suggestions on where I should be getting the topsoil and sod, please pass them along. I live in Markham, which is just north of Toronto. I'm also wondering how much topsoil I will need.

I feel a lot more confident knowing there is a place to turn to for help. Thanks all!

Certainly no expert here but if I'm really off base folks jump in and correct me. Measure the length and the width of the section you're going to cover, Multiply those 2 numbers together and then multiply that number by .5 if you're putting down 6 ", by .3 if 4", .25 if about 2". This should give you the number of cubic feet. This is what I did when I ordered screenings for my driveway and it worked. Edie

I've spent most of my time in the garden,the rest I've wasted. Edie Zone4A, Ont.

Hi Kumar...We have enjoyed putting flag stone paths throughout our small city garden. Each year we have added about 10. We started close to the house. That cut down muddy areas. They make walking in the yard pleasant even on wet days. Children can run over them, play ball, whatever with no problems. Our 2 little dogs use them all year.Here are some pics. We are done now with the flags after 9 years.

With Father's day rolling around, and a family wedding and out of town guests, my chances of working on the garden are pretty slim. I'm going to do my best to plan around it, but it looks like I'm not going to be able to get around to it just yet.

The biggest virtue of a gardener is patience and the biggest assets are time and $$$. None of which ever seems to be in ample supply! Tackle the problems one at a time and realize that they are going to take time to resolve but diligence and perseverance will pay off eventually.

LynAB, Zone 3A----------------------------------“Those who say it can't be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.” ` James Arthur Baldwin"

I'm back to give this another go. Last year I had a deck built which reduced some of the area I will have to work on. I got a quote to lay down sod (it's about 60 x 35 feet) and it came out to over 5 grand!

I re-read the thread and so my plan right now is this.

1. mow the weeds as low as possible2. rototill the entire yard3. try to gather up all the loose weeds and debris and dispose of it in a rented dumpster. I realize this is very labour intensive. Is it necessary?4. Thrown on about 4-6 inches of topsoil, grading it appropriately5. seed the topsoil with a spreader6. water. water. water.

If you plan to rototill then yes, you must collect as much weed debris as possible. Many weeds will spread through the chooped up roots. Another suggestion is to cover the whole area with a thick layer of wet news papers or cardbord then top that with your topsoil and seeds. The underlying sod and weeds will break down and providing you don't get a lot of weed seeds and roots in your new topsoil you should be good as gold.

LynAB, Zone 3A----------------------------------“Those who say it can't be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.” ` James Arthur Baldwin"